It is necessary in the field of athletic exercise to provide people (such as bicycle riders) who are interested in their level of performance, in particular their power output, with add-on applied-force sensor device which is easy to attach and is able to produce and transmit precise measurements even in a vibrating environment. Applications include for example, measuring and displaying the driving torque applied to the crank arm in stationary or usual bicycle. To that end, the prior art, such as (U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,775,128B2; 7,806,006B2; 7,599,806B2; 7,257,468B1; 6,418,797B1; 5,758,735; 5,591,908; 5,257,540; 5,031,455; 4,423,630), teaches a method and device of applied force sensing device for use while cycling.
Although various devices are known, the known devices of the prior art fail to provide a solution for an applied-force sensing-device which can be added on to exercise apparatuses such as bicycle, without dismantling and/or replacing certain mechanisms, for example the bicycle gear system, pedals or the crank arm, or crank spider in a manner that allows precise measuring.
Exercise environments often introduce reaction forces such as vibration. In these environments, sensors must be installed and anchored to firmly grip the measured object/part, for achieving precise measurements over time. For bicycle raiders in particular, to achieve and maintain precise measuring, installation of applied-force sensing-devices often requires the dismantling of mechanisms and replacing the original parts with specialized parts. These parts are often very expensive and usually require professional person expertise to install and maintain.
An applied force measuring arrangement is already known as Strain Gage, used to measure the strain forces applied to a surface or object. For example see Transducer-Class® Strain Gages, part number: S1425 or S120P, made by Full Bridge Patterns, Vishay Micro-Measurements. Strain force measuring requires the anchoring of the sensor to the measured surface for maximizing the direct transferring of forces. Furthermore, continuous pressure is also required, to maintain constant and firm contact between the strain sensor and the measured surface or object.
To date, there are no satisfactory add-on devices and methods for applied-force sensing-devices, which offer easy add-on installation to different types of exercise devices, do not require any action of dismantling any mechanisms and/or replacing any original parts, and maintain precise measurements in an exercising environment. Thus, there remains a need in the art for an improved add-on device and method.
In addition, there is an increasing commercial demand for personal training applications, such as smart phones application designed to work with different athletic exercise devices (for example see the Edge 800® and Edge 500®, made by GARMIN; Node 1 and Node 2, made by Bontrager Node computers). There is a need to provide a system and method for easy add-on attachment of applied-force measuring device, able to continuously measure precise forces and transmit them to an external device for processing and display, using for example, wireless protocols.